Agassi played in far more diverse conditions- he had to beat serve-bots and net rushers on low bouncing grass, had to compete with dirtballers on clay and a variety of guys on the hard courts. One thing you could say about Agassi's Wimbledon was he was lucky to grab it just before Sampras went on a roll, same way Roddick managed to snatch his only GS title just before Federer went on his rampage.

35 year old Agassi competed with Fed for three sets in the 2005 USO final but yeah he sucks, innit.

Federer benefitted from a weaker clay era to get to the finals every year- once Guga, Costa, Coria, Gaudio, Corretja, Moya and the rest disappeared the competition got weaker and only Nadal could stop him. Still I was glad for him he got his career slam- as an all-court player he was the most suitable candidate of this era to get it.

Can't believe people think half the crap in Druggassi's book is true Maybe if he was on meth while writing it he would have actually been somewhat truthful and even a bit helpful with uncovering some of the current drug problems in tennis today. Instead he says tennis is "relativey clean" despite knowing first hand about the coverup with regards to his own career (and we only know what he has chosen to tell us while he remains involved with the ATP and promoting the game).

Drugassi was not a very good player, let's be honest here people. In today's era of great athletes, do you really think a duck-walking, wig wearing clown who picked up slams in the weakest fields and spent half of his career avoiding his so called "rival" would compete? There are a lot of rose tinted glasses when it comes to Clownpras and Drugassi, but to claim that his career grand slam was superior to Roger's takes the cake

Agassi played in far more diverse conditions- he had to beat serve-bots and net rushers on low bouncing grass, had to compete with dirtballers on clay and a variety of guys on the hard courts. One thing you could say about Agassi's Wimbledon was he was lucky to grab it just before Sampras went on a roll, same way Roddick managed to snatch his only GS title just before Federer went on his rampage.

35 year old Agassi competed with Fed for three sets in the 2005 USO final but yeah he sucks, innit.

Federer benefitted from a weaker clay era to get to the finals every year- once Guga, Costa, Coria, Gaudio, Corretja, Moya and the rest disappeared the competition got weaker and only Nadal could stop him. Still I was glad for him he got his career slam- as an all-court player he was the most suitable candidate of this era to get it.

02-11-2013 06:47 AM

SliceAce

Re: Has Djokovic surpassed Stefan Edberg and/or Boris Becker?

Can't believe people think half the crap in Druggassi's book is true Maybe if he was on meth while writing it he would have actually been somewhat truthful and even a bit helpful with uncovering some of the current drug problems in tennis today. Instead he says tennis is "relativey clean" despite knowing first hand about the coverup with regards to his own career (and we only know what he has chosen to tell us while he remains involved with the ATP and promoting the game).

Drugassi was not a very good player, let's be honest here people. In today's era of great athletes, do you really think a duck-walking, wig wearing clown who picked up slams in the weakest fields and spent half of his career avoiding his so called "rival" would compete? There are a lot of rose tinted glasses when it comes to Clownpras and Drugassi, but to claim that his career grand slam was superior to Roger's takes the cake

02-11-2013 05:47 AM

Mr. Oracle

Re: Has Djokovic surpassed Stefan Edberg and/or Boris Becker?

It's obvious that cincy is not one of Rafole's preferred tournaments for whatever reason. I think that with the demands of the tour, these players are really having to chose their battles carefully. Despite this, Djoker has gone very deep into the tourney on several occasions. We could look at Nadal's very mediocre results there and conclude that the surface is too difficult for him, or it could be that he's not fully committed to it. Who thinks their results (and particularly nadal's) would improve if this were a grand slam tourney?

an old article but it seems djoker would like some speed too (seems to contradict the first point I made):

maybe he's sincere and feels he's up for the challenge. i think he would really dictate points with his angles and end points quickly instead of grinding.

I think these blokes would do just fine in the 80s and 90s.

02-11-2013 04:40 AM

stewietennis

Re: Has Djokovic surpassed Stefan Edberg and/or Boris Becker?

With the surface and racket technology of the Edberg-Becker era I believe Nadal and Djokovic's returns and passing shots wouldn't have the same bite as they currently do. I think the unpredictability of the bounces of the faster surfaces would also cause them to probably mistime some returns. I don't think they'd be blowing anyone off the courts but I think they'll hold their own, maybe as well as Lendl and Connors did during their time.

Yep. Great point. I see no reason why he and Nadal could not outlast Edberg on the quicker surfaces during his mid 80's to early 90's run. Especially Nadal, who I feel has hit the most spectacular passing shots the sport has ever seen, and rarely misses. What he's done to the offensive game of Fed is unreal. He showed us that defence can trump offence on all surfaces.

The problem with Nadal on those surfaces is he'd shank a lot of balls due to mistiming and the low bounces that make his passing shots so much harder to hit.

Novak in the 1990:s would have simply focused more on his returns and passing shots, and I don't think that the big servers would have been anymore comfortable with that than with his dogged defence of the last couple of years...

Yep. Great point. I see no reason why he and Nadal could not outlast Edberg on the quicker surfaces during his mid 80's to early 90's run. Especially Nadal, who I feel has hit the most spectacular passing shots the sport has ever seen, and rarely misses. What he's done to the offensive game of Fed is unreal. He showed us that defence can trump offence on all surfaces.

To think of it, if the man had the attitude and work ethics of the top 4 players of today he would have ended up with more slams for sure. He lost a final for the frigging wig and didn't play Wimby for years because he refused to wear white

Obviously, image was too important to him...not my type of character, that is why I could never really like him, but he really is a tennis legend and it was fun watching him.

I remember Agassi's breakthrough major in 1992. All the kids at my school were talking about him in that tournament - he really made the sport popular that year in England (my country had only had Jeremy Bates to set the pulses racing in recent years...). He made tennis exciting to watch.

To think of it, if the man had the attitude and work ethics of the top 4 players of today he would have ended up with more slams for sure. He lost a final for the frigging wig and didn't play Wimby for years because he refused to wear white

Obviously, image was too important to him...not my type of character, that is why I could never really like him, but he really is a tennis legend and it was fun watching him.

No doubt about it. He had years he barely played and his ranking would dropp drastically, injuries, serious lack of proffesionalism in his early years (reason why Bolletieri left him) and he still managed to get 8 slams and countless masters titles (plus the olympic gold, TMC, Davis Cup,etc)

With more work ethic and desire he would have been unstoppable. Put the mental strenght and dedication from his later years (1998-2005) on his peak years game-wise (1994-1995) and you have one of the 2/3 most complete players of all time.

Haha, yes. Imagine if he hadn't won it in 1999, he would have retired without the career slam in the tournament he could have won two times by the time he was 21.

Fortunately he could do it with that memorable comeback.

To think of it, if the man had the attitude and work ethics of the top 4 players of today he would have ended up with more slams for sure. He lost a final for the frigging wig and didn't play Wimby for years because he refused to wear white

Obviously, image was too important to him...not my type of character, that is why I could never really like him, but he really is a tennis legend and it was fun watching him.